This Is Why The World Is A Scarier Place Than You Realize

Seriously scary...

As a magician, he operates under the rationale that people go to his shows expecting, and secretly hoping, to be fooled.

This concept is what moves the fascinating documentary Merchants of Doubt through its exploration of deceit. The film follows "spinmeisters" and the brave people who challenge them on a quest to present Americans with the real truth.

Robert Kenner is the filmmaker. Kenner was also the brains behind Food Inc. (one of the top-grossing theatrical documentaries of all time), which exposed disturbing facts about the American food industry.

"We're being denied a level of transparency," Kenner told A+. "We tried to understand how a magician fools his audience and then you start to see the parallels."

Kenner explained that for 50 years, Big Tobacco knew that tobacco causes cancer but still assured the public that it didn't. He then gave an example of an equally alarming, modern-day deception.

"We have a Congress right now that is believing the two percent of scientists saying man doesn't cause climate change, and yet 98 percent say it does," he said.

He added that this two percent has been accepting millions of dollars from companies who need Americans to believe that their products are not a serious threat to the environment and that we can continue to practice the same old habits without any ramifications.

This film exposes many surprising truths about the corruption and deception that seems to run our world. But Kenner hopes that, by spreading knowledge, this film will help change things.

"As the magician says, 'once revealed never concealed,'" Kenner said. "Once you start to see the patterns, you will understand how it works and you won't be fooled again."